How to Break the Sanctuary States

In 1832, President Andrew Jackson made it crystal clear that the state of South Carolina had no authority to “nullify” federal laws that it did not like. Not one to mince words, Old Hickory called such acts treason. 

In enforcing the collection of national tariffs, Jackson called for federal troops and reminded South Carolina that “the power to annul a law of the United States, assumed by one State, [is] incompatible with the existence of the Union, [and] contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution.”  

In 2025, at the start of his second term, President Donald Trump must break the 13 states that currently shield foreign criminals from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The result of this unconstitutional non-cooperation is that ICE is unable to deport many thousands of dangerous criminal foreigners who are allowed to remain in the country to commit more crimes. These 13 “nullifying” states, as well as many other local government authorities all across the country, have adopted laws, rules, or policies that impede or prohibit all cooperation with ICE.

Jessica Vaughan from the Center for Immigration Studies has extensively researched the matter and explains:

These cities, counties, and states have laws, ordinances, regulations, resolutions, policies, or other practices that obstruct immigration enforcement and shield criminals from ICE—either by refusing to or prohibiting agencies from complying with ICE detainers, imposing unreasonable conditions on detainer acceptance, denying ICE access to interview incarcerated aliens, or otherwise impeding communication or information exchanges between their personnel and federal immigration officers.

They are nullifying federal law that requires state and local government authorities to cooperate with ICE (see 8 U.S Code § 1373). The fact that the Biden-Harris administration accepts this systematic non-cooperation is hardly a surprise. But ending this unconstitutional activity must be a top priority of the next Trump presidency. Continuing to tolerate sanctuary zones, or just working around them, as all past Republican chief executives have done, seriously jeopardizes presidential authority to carry out needed large-scale deportations that the next administration must undertake.

Just as South Carolina in 1832 refused to collect customs duties because it did not agree with federal law, modern states and local governments are carrying out these sanctuary policies because they simply object to U.S. immigration statutes. It is a slap in the face of rule of law across the entire Union. 

The illegal immigrants at issue have typically been arrested for local law infractions, everything from petty crimes to drunk driving to serious felonies. When it becomes clear, after the arrest, that a suspect foreigner has no right to be in the country, sanctuary government authorities simply refuse to notify ICE to ensure the illegal will not be deported.  

Yes, in some cases, the sanctuary jurisdictions may themselves prosecute heinous acts illegal immigrants commit, but there are many, many more lesser crimes that liberal and far-left district attorneys decline to pursue. In these sanctuary enclaves, far too many foreign criminals just get a slap on the wrist. Not only should foreigners illegally in the country be deported after perpetrating any crime, but statistics indicate that those arrested and released by sanctuary prosecutors commit new crimes.

The Biden-Harris administration no doubt applauds sanctuary zones, even while legacy ICE officials are pulling their hair out. But these unlawful practices started well before the current immigration calamity. Since 2015, experts estimate that some 10,000 serious foreign criminals, who were all deportable and whose ranks included felons, were eventually released back on the streets. The open-borders lobby enacted these obstructionist measures, out of ideological zeal, precisely to undermine deportations. 

The list of 13 sanctuary states includes the obvious miscreants such as California and New York, once great states in the Union that long ago ceased to live up to their historic achievements. The list also includes some surprises like the states of Utah and North Dakota. These are states led by officials who may believe in strong borders, but they need to sharpen their states’ statutes and pay attention to actual practices. 

Some non-liberal states, such as Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky and Nebraska, are tolerating their own left-wing counties and cities that refuse to cooperate with ICE. These rebel counties and cities are getting away with their own local nullification policies that disregard both federal law and what, presumably, their own state legislatures and governors expect them to do.   

After almost four years of unprecedented radical open-border policies orchestrated by DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas—who was rightly impeached for them—these state and local government sanctuary policies may seem like small potatoes. But sanctuary zones are compounding the havoc caused by Mayorkas’s open-borderism. 

Consider New York City, long a sanctuary fortress nullifying ICE deportations. Currently, the NYC “undocumented population” has reached at least 770,000 people under Biden-Harris, and it continues to grow. Criminal acts and insecurity have hit the city hard, and even the New York Times is starting to question the policies. For example, the brutal Venezuelan gang known as Tren de Aragua has built overnight a sophisticated criminal network in the Big Apple, but still city authorities cling to sanctuary practices. 

Similar situations are playing out with foreign scofflaws all across big-city America. From Chicago to Denver, from Los Angeles to Atlanta, local authorities are zealots of the reckless notion that an illegal migrant who commits a crime should not be deported. This incredibly foolish public policy is major cause of the current implosion of our big cities and their communities.

That is why the next Trump administration must eviscerate these destructive sanctuary zones. It is also a necessary first step in order to carry out an enhanced and comprehensive federal deportation policy. There are over a million illegals who already face federal deportation orders, and ICE, under the next Trump-run Department of Homeland Security, will begin by focusing on this dangerous illegal population group.  

But ICE cannot implement large deportation efforts without the full cooperation of state and local authorities. There are not enough federal agents to carry out this mission, particularly if illegal immigrants know they can hide out in sanctuary enclaves.  

In fact, a second Trump administration will no doubt be met by defiant calls for even more shielding activities inside sanctuary zones. Invoking the spirit of Andy Jackson, Trump must be prepared to hit back hard against these unconstitutional policies on Day 1. 

The next administration will have several tools. Some experts have recommended that Washington cut off federal law enforcement subsidies that flow to recalcitrant states.  That is a good idea, but it is an incremental strategy that will take years. Trump will want to move fast. 

That is why I recommend the president order the Department of State to cease issuing student visas to all foreigners who seek to matriculate at universities and schools located in sanctuary jurisdictions. Foreign students overwhelmingly attend universities in sanctuary zones, and they bring billions of dollars to pay tuition and living expenses ($40 billion a year nationally).  

This steady stream of foreign students represents the Achilles’ heel of California, New York and Massachusetts—all three states representing major redoubts for non-cooperation with ICE. California alone has over 237,000 foreign students, and almost all of them pay the full tuition costs at the state’s overpriced universities.

Therefore, Trump should instruct his consular corps at U.S. embassies and consulates to cease issuing visas to all students seeking to enroll in universities in all 13 sanctuary states. The outrage will roar from China to India to Mexico. The visa pause should continue until ICE certifies the return to full cooperation of all state and local authorities on all deportation matters.

In those states that do cooperate with ICE, but have non-cooperating counties and cities, U.S. visa officials can target specific schools and universities. Thus, while Georgia and Maryland cooperate, Atlanta and Baltimore do not. Universities in those non-cooperating cities, like Georgia Tech and Johns Hopkins, will suddenly discover their supply of foreign students is cut off.  

The impact in Sacramento, Albany, and Boston will be immediate and powerful. When the non-cooperating states bring lawsuits, as they certainly will, their lawyers will rediscover the doctrine of consular non-reviewability, a legal principle repeatedly upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. The highest court has ruled that lower federal courts cannot order U.S. consular officials to issue any visa.

Thus, President Trump will have unmatched leverage against sanctuary jurisdictions across the country. The nullifiers will change their ways, both because they want the foreign students’ money and because their actions, ultimately, are both unconstitutional and immoral. 

For almost four years, we have watched—absolutely appalled—as the outlaw Biden-Harris-Mayorkas team has ignored and trampled over the immigration laws and procedures that protect our country. The next Trump administration, invoking Old Hickory, will need to be creative, determined, and smart in the battle to win our country back. The good news is that Trump will have the legal tools to act and succeed.